Apparatus for atomizing



June 21, l938. L. PEYCRU APPARATUS EQR ATOMIZING Filed Dec. '11, 1934 .2 SheetsSheet 1 (-iiz will! B W Lou/i5 eycrz g June 21', 1938.

L. qPEYCRU APPARATUS FOR ATOMIZING Filed Dec. 11, 1934 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Patented June 21, 1938 PATENT Fries APPARATUS FOR AIOMIZING Louis Peycru, Paris, France Application December 11, 1934, Serial No. 757,077 In Luxemburg December 13, 1933 3y Claims.

This invention relates to an apparatus for atomizing liquids and to the mixture of the atomized liquids with air or other gas or with pulverized solids. A useful application of the invention, is the pulverization of a liquid combustible and its mixture with air.

The apparatus described herein permits the utilization of combustible liquids of which the viscosity varies within large limits and without preheating of the liquids and without the use of special means to compensate for differences in viscosity.

In the drawings hereto annexed:

Fig. 1 is a section on the line I--l of Fig. 2, and Fig. 2 is a section on the line 2-2 of Fig. 1, showing one of the forms of my improved atomizer.

Figs. 3, 4 and 5, show a modified" form; Fig, 3 is a section on the line 3--3 of Fig. 5; Fig. 4 is a section on the line 4-4 of Fig. 5; Fig. 5 is a section on the line 55 of Fig. 3. 1

In Figs. 1 and 2, I0 is the mixing chamber provided at the bottom with a well H in which the liquid is introduced and maintained at the desired adjustable level by any convenient means; I

i have shown the liquid as being fed through the pipe l2, any excess flowing out through a pipe l3. which is threaded, by the thread i l, in the chamber ll] so that its height maybe adjusted, and locked in place by the lock nut 15.

Mounted centrally in the chamber I0 is a shaft I6, shown as turning in right-handedgrotation, which carries the structure hereinafter'referred to as the comb. This structure may take many forms; as here shown it consists of two groups of thin, elastic metal plates or blades, I1, I1, theblades of each group being separated from each other by the spacers l8, l8, and the two groups being separated from each other by the spacer l9. As the shaft [6 revolves the ends of the blades IT dip into the liquid, and then pass over a cam-shaped projection 20, so that they are bent as shown in the drawing; as they leave the cam-shaped projection they snap back to their normal shape, and vibrate against each other, and throw oil fine drops of the liquid, the amount so thrown off depending on the design of the comb and of the cam-shaped projection and on the viscosity of the liquid and its level i in the well II. It will be seen that, in essence, the comb consists of a numberof separate elastic blades, sufficiently separated from each other to allow of liquid being caught and retained between them, and capable of being given a snap action, followed by a vibratory action, to throw out fine particles of the liquid.

21 is a conduit into which air is blown. 22 is a damper for regulating the flow of air in this conduit. One current of air passes upwardly through the conduit 2| and through the narrow annular opening 23 into the Venturi tube 24 and thus into the point where the mixture is to be utilized, which may be for example a furnace 25.

An opening 26 leads from the conduit 2! into the mixing chamber II]; a pipe 21, terminating in a nozzle 21a, leads from the mixing chamber Ill to the Venturi tube 24. The efiective cross section of the opening 26 can be adjusted by the adjusting screw 28, which is manipulated by the nut 29 and fixed in position by the lock nut 30.

In the operation of the device the shaft l6, carrying the comb, is rotated; as the ends of the leaves of the comb pass through the liquid, it is caught and retained between them; as theleaves pass from. the cam 28, as shown in the drawings, they are subject to the snap and vibratory. actions above described; which actions cause them to throw fine particles of the liquid out into the mixing chamber Iii.

At the same time a regulated current of air is, passing into the opening 26 and out at 21, which currentof air mixes with the fine particles of the liquid produced by the operations above described.

There is thus created a rich mixture of the air and liquid, which is drawn through the nozzle Z'laby the action of the Venturi tube 24, at which point the rich mixture is thoroughly mixed with and diluted by the additional supply of air passing through the annular opening 23, to form a mixture of the desired quality for combustion. This last mixture is facilitated by giving to the rich mixture and to the additional air supply inverse rotary movements by means of suitably placed vanes in the nozzle 21a and in the annular 7 opening 23.

The richness of the final mixture, that is to say,

the amount of liquidper cubic foot of air, may

be adjusted by regulating the adjusting screw 28, by adjusting the damper 22 and by adjusting; the level of the liquid in the mixing chamber l0.

To add to the intimacy between the mixture of the liquid and the air I attach to the comb one or more baffle blades 3|, which as they revolve serve to churn up the air and thoroughly mix it with the particles of the liquid.

In. the modified form of my atomizer shown in Figs. 3, 4 and 5, the laminated plates forming the comb are given the shape shown in Fig. 5 and the mixing chamber I0 is divided into two compartments Illa, and Hi?) by the compartment disc 32, which is fixed to the shaft l6. Adjacent to the periphery of this disc and oppos1te the ends of the teeth of the comb, are provided one or more openings, notches or windows shown at 33, 33, in Figs. 3 and 5.

For the cam-shaped projection of Fig. 1 there is substituted in Fig. 4 the roller 34, which is mounted to turn freely on a horizontal aXis which is carried by a spring member 35, which is fastened at one end to the interior of the wall of the chamber l0 and positioned so that it can be regulated by an adjusting screw 36, which is locked in place by a lock nut 31. I have found that the use of this roller greatly reduces the wear on the parts. a

In this modification two separate currents of air under pressure are introduced, one, as in the first construction, at 2|; the other through the pipe 38, which terminates in a nozzle 39, which nozzle is inside the pipe 21 which leads from the mixing chamber [0 to the Venturi tube 24 and thus as before to the chamber 25. These air currents produce a slight depression in the mixing chamber In, draw into pipe 21 the mixture of air and fine particles of the liquid, formed in chamber l0, and carry this mixture into the chamber 25.

Atmospheric air is drawn into compartment Illa of the mixing chamber ID by means of an inlet pipe 40, which may be provided with a damper 4|. This air mixes with the fine particles of the liquid produced by the operations above described. The inlet pipe may be placed at any convenient position to admit atmospheric air into the compartment Illa of the mixing chamber ID at any point above the oil level.

It is important that the roller 34 which causes the snap action should be located as near as possible to the point at which the blades of the comb leave the liquid, in order that the: liquid caught and retained between the blades of the comb shall not be thrown off before the blades touch the roller 34.

Several successive rollers may be used to obtain the maximum number of particles from the liquid caught and retained between blades and, at the same time, to produce finerandstill finer particles.

The arrangement is such that any large drops of liquid which are thrown off from the comb will be thrown directly on to the inner walls of the compartment Illa of the mixing chamber In and will tend to adhere thereto and gradually work down along the gutter 42 to the well H. In this manner I am able to efiect a separation between the coarser particles or larger drops of liquid which are thrown off from the comb, as for example by centrifugal force, or by the mere snapping back of the blade to its radial position, and the finer particles which are produced by the action of the blades of the comb in vibrating against each other as described above, which latter action I call intershocking. This intershocking action obviously throws off fine particles from the revolving comb not merely radially, but also laterally, whereas such larger drops as are thrown off tend to be thrown against the inner walls of the compartment Illa, as described above, and thus are in general prevented from being carried into the final mixture. It will be seen that the blades H of the comb are substantially parallel to each other; it is important that they should be in substantial parallelism; that is to say, so nearly parallel as to permit the intershocking action above described.

I claim:

1. In an atomizer, a chamber, means for supplying liquid to the chamber, means for maintaining a desired level of the liquid in the chamber, a rotating comb-like member in the chamber consisting of elastic blades mounted successively in alignment one after the other and in proximity to each other in the direction of rotatio n and in substantial parallelism with each other, said blades being suitably separated to pick up and hold some of the liquid between the blades when the blades dip into the liquid and are removed therefrom, and means for vibrating the elastic blades, the blades being sufficiently close to. each other and so elastic that when they vibrate they will intershock in such manner as to throw out in the form of fine particles liquid picked up and held between or on the blades.

2. An atomizer comprising a chamber containing a quantity of liquid, a comb-like member consisting of a plurality of adjacent thin elastic blades, means for causing said blades to dip into the liquid and for then withdrawing them from the liquid, and means for vibrating the blades as they leave the liquid, the blades of the comb being mounted successively in alignment one after the other and in proximity to each other in the direction of motion of the comb in substantial parallelism with each other and being so elastic and sufiiciently close to each other so that when they vibrate they will intershock and will throw oiT in the form of fine particles liquid caught and held between or on the blades.

3. An atomizer comprising a chamber containing a quantity of liquid, a comb-like member consisting of a plurality of substantially parallel adjacent thin elastic metal blades, means for causing said blades to dip into the liquid and for then withdrawing them from the liquid, means for vibrating and intershocking the blades as they leave the liquid so as to throw off in the form of fine particles the liquid caught and held between or on the blades, and means for efiecting a separation between the fine particles thus thrown out and the coarser particles which leave the comb before the intershocking, the blades of the comb being mounted successively in alignment one after the other and in proximity to each other in the direction of motion of the comb in substantial parallelism with each other and being so elastic and sufficiently close to each other so that when they vibrate they will intershock.

LOUIS PEYCRU. 

